CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.
– Blue Devils Ester Goldfeld and Mary Clayton led the third-ranked Duke
women’s tennis team as it downed No. 15 Baylor, 4-1, on Friday in the first
round of the ITA National Indoor Championship hosted by the University of
Virginia at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.With the win, the Blue Devils
advance to play No. 14 Northwestern in the quarterfinals of the tournament
Saturday at 12 p.m.

In doubles action, junior Marianne Jodoin and sophomore
Annie Mulholland broke serve twice to open their match against Alex Leatu and Victoria Kisialeva,
before cruising to an 8-4 victory in the No. 2 position. On court one, senior
Mary Clayton and sophomore Ester Goldfeld dropped serve twice and found
themselves at a 4-1 deficit against Emma
Burgic and Kiah Generette. Despite the slow start, the Blue Devil tandem
battled back, winning seven consecutive games to claim the match, 8-4, and
clinch the doubles point for Duke. Sophomore Monica Turewicz and junior Hanna
Mar held a 6-5 edge over Megan Horter and Jordaan Sanford when Goldfeld and
Clayton clinched the point.

“I think [Mary
Clayton and Ester Goldfeld] got off to a little bit of a slow start
emotionally, but did a great job of coming back,” said head coach Jamie
Ashworth. “They really cleaned up their game after being down 4-1, and stopped
giving away free points. They played with a lot of emotion, and it was really
great to see.”

With the wins, the
Blue Devils have now clinched the doubles point in five consecutive matches and
now own a perfect 11-0 tally in doubles play this season.

Clayton and Goldfeld
carried the momentum from their doubles match, and both jumped out to early 3-0
leads in the singles matches in the second and third positions respectively.
Goldfeld, ranked No. 40 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) polls,
continued her solid play to roll, 6-1, 6-1, over Sanford, while No. 53 Clayton
dispatched Horter, 6-2, 6-2, to give the Blue Devils a 3-0 lead.

On court one,
10th-ranked Mar dropped the first set, 6-1, to No. 16 Burgic, and found herself
down 4-1 in the second before mounting a comeback to bring the set back to even
at 4-4. Mar provided an emotional lift to the Blue Devils by battling her way
back into the match, but dropped a hard-fought match to Burgic, 6-1, 6-4.

In the sixth
position, Jodoin outlasted Leatu, 6-4, in the first set, before breaking serve
to jump out to a 3-1 lead in the second set. After withstanding a brief
comeback from Leatu, Jodoin was able to win the next two games to clinch the
match for Duke with a 6-4, 6-3 victory. When the match was clinched, Mulholland
held a 7-5, 3-0 edge over Kisialeva and Turewciz tallied a 7-5, 3-3 lead over
Generette.

The Blue Devils take
to the court again Saturday at 12 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the ITA National
Indoor Championship against No. 14 Northwestern. The match with the Wildcats
will be a rematch of a Feb. 3 meeting between the two teams in which the No. 3
Blue Devils swept Northwestern, 4-0, in Evanston, Ill.

“It is never easy
playing a good team like that twice in one week,” Ashworth said. “But we have
already talked about not overlooking anyone that we play. To be successful
tomorrow, we really need to clean up our service game. I think we are giving
away some easy points, and we have got to do a better job of that. We need to
play to our strengths and not worry about our opponent. When we play to our
strengths, we are as good as anyone in the country.”